Chenango County Football At Colgate: Norwich Falls To Batavia; S-E Defeats B-G In Overtime
Published:
September 4th, 2023
By:
Morgan Golliver
HAMILTON – The three remaining 11-man football teams in Chenango County started its 2023 season in new fashion. Norwich, Bainbridge-Guilford, and Sherburne-Earlville, along with Section V’s Batavia joined to play at Andy Kerr Stadium, the home of the Colgate University Raiders. Norwich and Batavia kicked off the Chenango County Classic at 5:30 p.m. while S-E played host to the B-G Bobcats a little after 8 p.m. Both games were a sight to see with non-stop competitiveness all the way through.
Batavia 46-Norwich 30
The Norwich Purple Tornado gave Batavia a run through the first three quarters of play, even taking a brief 20-19 lead at halftime. The Blue Devils caught up and scored on their final four drives of the game and held Norwich to a field goal and one remaining touchdown to win the contest. Batavia also sped to the end zone after receiving handoffs and breaking tackles.
Norwich had a strong start to the game scoring on three consecutive offensive drives. The early confidence came from the rushing by Holden Ryan and big pass plays from Quarterback Steven Dowdall. Ryan scored two rushing touchdowns in the first quarter. One touchdown was set up by a big pass play when Dowdall connected with Braden Hagenbuch. Ryan finished with 179 rushing yards overall.
Norwich also saw big plays on defense. The defense caused a fumble on Batavia’s second offensive drive to set up the next touchdown, where Dowdall found Mitchell Collins for a 24 yard pass.
Zack Parker also made a big play to end the first half as he caught an interception with Batavia deep in the red zone.
In the second half, Norwich scored on two big possessions as kicker Spencer Root booted a 26 yard field goal and Colin Olds caught a 30 yard pass from Dowdall with 10 minutes left in regulation for the Purple Tornado offense. Dowdall went 12-for-26 for 174 yards with two passing touchdowns. He also rushed for 35 yards.
With the big non-league game out of the way, Norwich has built some momentum to prepare for rival Oneonta. Norwich travels to Oneonta on Friday at 7 p.m.
Sherburne-Earlville 26-Bainbridge-Guilford 20
After playing Norwich for the last few season openers, the Sherburne-Earlville Marauders appreciated a change with facing Section IV, Class D’s Bainbridge-Guilford. The two teams put on an evenly matchup with the game being decided in overtime. Both teams had one possession on the opponent’s 20 yard line. B-G won the coin-toss, but was unsuccessful at finding the end zone with S-E pressuring on defense. S-E had a few trick plays up their sleeve with using Quarterback Darren Miles in to block and Nick Hull set up to run the ball or in this case, hand the ball off to Ethan Shaw. Shaw came up big and caught the game-winner for the Marauders to start the 2023 season on a high note in a new division this year.
The two teams showed how much they wanted to win this game, putting their two top running backs and receivers to work. For B-G, they had Declyn Marshfield and Quarterback Connor Davy rushing the ball while S-E had Nick Hull and Ethan Shaw at receiver.
S-E’s Landon Andrade and Justin Race also had a few carries while Aaron Key came up big on both sides of the field, even setting up the game-tying drive with a crucial interception in the red zone. Key also saw the end zone twice and finished with two receptions for 53 yards.
Darren Miles went 7-for-10 with 84 passing yards and two touchdowns. Nick Hull finished with 120 rushing yards as Shaw found the end zone twice with 15 carries for 65 yards.
No full stats were reported on the Bobcats offense, but it is clear that Marshfield led the team with two rushing touchdowns and Parker Buttice also caught a touchdown pass.
B-G will host Sidney on Friday night in a non-league contest while S-E heads to Port Byron for a Thursday night game at 6:30 p.m.
Author: Morgan Golliver - More From This Author
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